Written by : George

October has arrived and we are lying in fifth, undefeated since our opening-day battering at the hands of Manchester City. Aside from our embarrassing cup exit away at Oxford, we’ve had a start to the season only the most hopeful of fans wouldn’t have taken during pre-season. Said defeat shouldn’t be swept under the carpet too easily though. With our league cup run ending before it had even begun, so disappeared our most realistic chances of a first major trophy since 1980. We weren’t the bookies’ favourites by any stretch but with the new stadium and consistent backing from the board we are certainly a big enough club to have realistic trophy targets. The matter of fact is we can now only focus on the league and the FA cup.

The FA Cup, nowadays a similar level of competition to the League Cup, can be targeted – Watford showed last season that this is a realistic aim. A trip to Wembley and the chance to take down one of the top teams is lucrative indeed. This would be a sure and deserved reward for the fans. The other possibility is we draw the likes of Shrewsbury again, scrape a result and get knocked out in the following round leaving us to focus on the league. A league focus in this instance must simply be top six; top ten at the bare minimum. This would result in some fantastic European away days and would provide another attraction to bring top-quality players to the squad. With the genuine quality we now have going forward we need to be able to convert frustrating draws into three points regularly. Do this and we can be real contenders. With many of our best players signing new contracts we certainly have the platform to become one of the top, top teams in the years to come.

From a solely financial standpoint, an FA cup win would return around £7 million in prize money. The financial rewards from finishing 6th rather than 10th, let’s say, would bring an extra £7.6 million. With no one clear preference from a business stance, as fans, then, it boils down to what do we want more.

Finishing above Spurs and Arsenal in the league and playing in Europe would be fantastic, admittedly. For most, a trophy won at Wembley and the day of a lifetime for those in attendance, would be much, much sweeter.